The Compliance Circus: Governance as a Juggling Act with Flaming Swords

Welcome to Episode 15!

Today, we enter the magical tent of enterprise governance — where every meeting is a performance, every audit is a trapdoor, and every compliance officer secretly dreams of joining Cirque du Soleil.

The Main Story: Welcome to the 3-Ring EA Circus

In Ring One, the IT compliance team is juggling GDPR, HIPAA, and three different versions of ISO like they're flaming bowling pins.
In Ring Two, Legal is riding a unicycle made of outdated policies, trying not to fall into the pit of “uncontrolled exceptions.”
And in Ring Three? You, the architect, are blindfolded, trying to balance business agility on one hand and regulatory checklists on the other… while someone from Finance keeps throwing pies labeled “SOX Audit” at your head.

“Is this really governance?” someone asks.
“No,” you reply. “This is performance art with consequences.”

TOGAF to the Rescue (Wearing a Top Hat)

TOGAF’s Governance Reference Models are the elephant trainers in this circus. They remind us:

• Structure reduces chaos — even when juggling flaming acronyms.

• Clear escalation paths keep performers from trampling each other.

• Governance should enable decisions, not delay them (a novel concept, we know).

Use Architecture Governance Frameworks to formalize who decides what, when, and how — not just who gets blamed when something burns down.

Educational Twist: Tame the Circus

• Establish a lightweight governance board with just enough authority to stop the madness.

• Document decision rights (TOGAF’s trusty RACI matrix, anyone?).

• Automate low-risk compliance checks — no need for humans to juggle what a script can catch.

Cartoon Prompt

Share Your Governance Act

What’s the weirdest compliance request you’ve ever had to implement?
Was it serious… or seriously circus-worthy?

Next Week’s Tease

Master Data Management: Herding Cats at Scale
Spoiler: These cats have opinions about taxonomy.